APPLETON, Wis. 4 June 2007—To provide welding operators with the accuracy and verrsatility needed to prepare tungsten for both orbital and hand-held TIG applications, Weldcraft offers its new Triad™ (TTG Plus) tungsten grinder. Featuring precision-drilled entries, Triad accommodates six different tungsten electrode diameters—0.040, 1/16, 5/64, 3/32, 1/8 and 5/32 inch—and offers four different grinding angles (15º, 18º, 22.5º and 30º) to ensure reliable arc starting and good weld penetration.

Triad™s robust industrial-grade motor also provides consistent cutting and facing capabilities (up to 5/32-inch) to eliminate the need and cost for additional tungsten preparation tools.
READ MORE ABOUT WELDCRAFT’S TRIAD TUNGSTEN GRINDER HERE….

Arc-Zone.com is adding to our industry leading lineup of precision tungsten electrode grinders with the Triad Tungsten Grinder from Weldcraft.

As you may or may not know, Arc-Zone.com introduced the first low-cost, high-quality portable tungsten electrode grinder 7 years ago (the Sharpie™ Hand Held Tungsten Grinder). Since that time we have continued to bring to market new products that offer additional user benefits, whether it’s, adjustable grind angle, dust collection, cut-off options, or heavy-duty motors.

The new Weldcraft™ Triad model fills a void for a portable, semi-hand-held model and was designed for the precision TIG/GTAW orbital welding market by Georg Fischer. This new grinder offers several “fixed” grind angles which may be important to welding engineers that don’t want the operators constantly tinkering with the tungsten grind angle (or taper). Additionally, and more importantly it offers a precision tungsten cut off option, important for orbital welding equipment that use short tungsten electrodes.

The Triad is priced at the high end of the portable grinders, $895, just below the high-performance bench top models, and will sharpen tungsten electrodes in diameters from 0.040″ to 5/32″. The machine can be used in the weldshop or in the field and has a durable long-life motor.

The Weldcraft Triad Tungsten Grinder is not yet available, but you can reserve yours today– they should be shipping, complete with rugged carrying case by the end of next week. Give us a call:
800-944-2243 (toll free US) or
760-931-1500 (worldwide) or
email triad at arc-zone.com.

I was back in the shop last week looking around the storage area where I have archived some products that we have collected over the last 25 years. There’s some really interesting stuff back there, from the first TEC brand TIG torches to the first Weldcraft Micro-TIG torch, and the first Crafter Series prototypes and more.

I was looking for a specific Plasma gas distributor for a recent post, when I found something that brought back some great memories and made me laugh — the prototypes for the Weldcraft Plasma Cutting torch! Did you know Weldcraft had a Plasma cutting torch? Well they did and it was a real market innovation — (that’s my favorite word).
It was some 15 years ago… I was Director of Manufacturing at the time, and we decided it was time to leverage the outstanding worldwide brand name that we had built at Weldcraft. We had an excellent group of skilled guys and we identified the Plasma Arc Cutting market as an area that was greatly under served (as it is now).

So Randy Haberman our lead Mechanical Engineer took the concepts and created a blockbuster product line — a universal Plasma Arc Cutting torch that would fit all the popular Plasma Arc Cutting machines and used basically one set of parts! Think about it –one torch — one set of parts regardless of machine type. It was a real innovation.

Weldcraft’s PC-30 Plasma torch was the first to use a sculptured ergonomic handle with a built-in trigger switch located on the bottom of the body — and get this — it was completely rebuildable.

We created a dedicated facility across the street from Weldcraft with a dedicated engineering staff, machinery and sales force, we began to expand into all types of high quality aftermarket Plasma Arc Cutting parts and that’s when the trouble began.

What happened to the Weldcraft PC-30 product line? As the Product Manager I was told to relocate it to our sister company Bernard and rename it PlazCraft.

It seems companies like Hypertherm and Thermal Dynamics didn’t appreciate the competition, and because our division President was trying to buy one or both of those companies we were told to shut it down!

I said I had to laugh because now you see all the new Hypertherm torches with a similar comfortable handle style, and Thermal Dynamics is spending heavily to promote their “One Torch” one torch that fits a variety of Plasma Arc Cutting machines… Been there. Done that! Even Abicor Binzel is in the game with their Abicut Plasma Arc Cutting torch.

That’s been my experience in this industry a lot of copy cat’s — few innovators…

Meet Gary Fisher – he Created the Mountain Bike – the Mountain Bike Industry, in fact – and has contributed to creating a culture of mountain biking enthusiasts, me being one of them.

On Sunday, my buddies, Long Chain John, Surfer John, Dr. Eye and me met at our usual spot next to I-15 north of San Diego on the banks of Lake Hodges we ended up parking on a portion of the ladies mountain bike skill training track they set up– It was so cool @8.00 am they were meeting to do an off road riding clinic – One of the ladies came over and told us to move! (we did)

We got suited up and rode over to the Trek/Gary Fisher demo compound. I noticed this dude that had a cool look and I could tell the way he was talking to the bike mechanics that he knew what he was talking about. I told my riding buddies I thought that was Gary Fisher.

I went over and asked a question about the pedal he chose, and he looked up and said “Hey man I’m Gary Fisher what’s your name!”

We talked about suspension and frame geometry – I was impressed with how passionate and technical he is. One of my friends asked him a question about his GF Cake bike that suffers from chain suck (that’s technical way of saying the chain comes off). Gary was very informative and had some great tips for his issue, and for general bike set up and maintenance.

When I asked him if he was a fabricator – at first he snapped back, “No. I wanted to build a big company. I wanted to build and sell great bikes. I didn’t want to be the one man shop.”
Later, however, he did admit that you do get a great feeling of release when you’re fabricating a nice part, “but I wanted to do something big so we sent all the production work out to established shops,” he said.

We talked about Arc-Zone and soon began talking about precision TIG/GTAW Welding and before long we were talking about TIG welding Titanium.

Gary said then when they started with titanium, it was like black magic, very few people had the expertise to weld it — and in fact, developed the technique and then taught Sandvik Metals how to do production TIG welding of titanium.

We went on to talk about the industry, and the component suppliers - it was great because he shares many of the same views I do about product quality and how the consolidation of the industry, and shifting production has had a negative effect on most products.

Bicycle manufacturers experienced the same thing we’re experiencing now in the Welding industry — too many reverse engineering companies too few innovators. . .

Gary demonstrated the differences between manufacturers by comparing the front forks on the four bikes that me and my friends rode. I had the one he liked best, a Trek Fuel 9 Pro I Series with its fork manufactured by Fox– the best engineering, manufacturing, technical support and best repair facilities — the whole package. (by the way, that’s what we strive for at Arc-Zone!)

I asked about the new 29″ wheel full suspension bikes or 29er’s – about the performance advantages.

“When you ride there is a pecking order, some people are much faster and they are always out front, with this bike you can be out front,” he said.

With it’s 29″ wheels you roll over the bumps better, corner better and climb better with less wheel spin (11.5% more tire contact patch)

After our 16 mile (25.75km) ride we stopped at the compound where there were a couple of VW Touregs with large trailers filled with bikes – but no 29ers! We should have demoed one first thing in the morning!

It’s not like me, but I went back later with my daughter Siena to get a picture of Gary Fisher so I could write this blog post.

I didn’t see him at first and was ready to leave when I saw him in a chair under the ladies demo trailer canopy. I was nervous and Siena said “Daddy I want to meet Gary Fisher.”

In the photo above, that’s Siena wearing her favorite Race Girl T-Shirt signed by open wheel racing champ and soon to be Nascar star AJ Alimendinger

Siena’s already seen her share of top performers in many fields, we are blessed.

Here is an interesting article on a new inspection product.

Automation is becoming widespread in the welding industry, not only with respect to robotic welding but in the area of robotic vision inspection systems. Companies install robotic vision inspection systems for the same reasons they install other automated systems: to reduce costs due to poor quality welds; improve weld quality and consistency; increase productivity; and as a way to offset a lack of skilled labor. Additionally, if one automates the welding process, it makes good sense to automate the inspection process as well.
READ “New Automated Welding Inspection Systems” at Welding magazine online….blockquote>

Practical Welding Today is a great source of information, covering everything from how-to guides and showcasing fabricators to illustrating the nuts and bolts of your welding equipment. This article, “Gun Control: GTAW torch design innovations enhance productivity, quality” outlines the history of the development of the TIG welding torch over the years. And while the magazine is careful to not name names, or show preferential treatment, we’re under no such editorial obligation here at JoeWelder.com. Many of the innovations in TIG welding Torch design happened at Weldcraft. And while Jim Watson doesn’t like to brag, I’ll tell you that he was in on some of that innovation, and in fact patented a design for a new TIG Torch, a TIG torch now known as the Crafter Series.

This blog offers a fresh and brutally honest perspective on welding industry news, reviews of innovative companies and products, and profiles of those who are making an impact in the metal fabrication industry.

What we hope you’ll find: tips, tidbits, perspectives you won’t find elsewhere, as well as insights, original interviews and more that should be of interest to the metal fabrication market worldwide. We promise to keep the content fresh, and interesting.

This Blog is primarily written by Jim Watson (aka Joe Welder), a master fabricator, welding equipment designer, industry professional, online distributor, and owner of Arc-Zone.com, Inc.

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